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Beachfront
In Sand Harbour, a city that reinvents itself every day, individual neighborhoods take on the task of civic identity. Most are defined by the residents who live there, the landmarks they contain, or the geographic region they occupy. Beachfront, however, is defined not by what can be found there, but by who visits it. A tourist mecca the likes of which could not exist anywhere else in Saldonia, it services travelers and visitors of all stripes, catering to their impressions of what Sand Harbour should be. Hotels and high-toned bars crowd the shoreline, the famous Blanco Street Pier overseeing miles of golden sand beaches. There are few actual residents of Beachfront; its occupants are bellhops, bartenders, and cabbies, earning a wage off of an ever-changing crowd of middle-class tourists, vacationing big wigs, and retirees looking for someplace warm to roost. The area was the brainchild of eccentric millionaire Harvey Hillis, a former cowboy who now runs one of Slavonia's largest rail companies. Sand Harbour Railway Depot is essentially his property, purchased from the military as part of the city's efforts to become "world class." Hills figured that visitors to the city wouldn't ever need to leave the area around the station; all they required were enough enticements within walking distance. He petitioned the city council to rezone the surrounding areas, opened his own luxury hotel right next to the railway depot, and encouraged other businesses to invest in similar endeavors. By carefully manipulating his pawns in City Hall—and providing concrete plans for the entire area—he was able to bring his vision to life in the space of five short years. Beachfront is a deliberate creation of civic engineering, crafted to provide a specific impression that doesn't reflect any unpleasant realities. The area is laid out on an easy-to-navigate grid, flanked by palm trees and always kept meticulously clean. The streets accommodate a great deal of foot traffic, augmented by "colorful" cabbies who pull small two-person hansoms via bicycle. Stores and restaurants crowd the thoroughfare, selling souvenirs to the gullible while offering margaritas and other exotic drinks at exorbitant prices. The world-famous Beachfront Boulevard winds along the shoreline, separating the sand and the surf from the local hotels. As is to be expected, the area is host to numerous diversions and amusements. The Blanco Street Pier contains street entertainers, musicians galore, and a series of carnival rides open year round. Bowling alleys are common, as are pinball arcades featuring a variety of novelty games. The Hillis Railway Museum draws the curious to see artifacts of the millionaire's life and times, while a decommissioned naval submarine is open to the public on a small dock north of the pier. Castanola Field, home of Sand Harbour's knockball team, marks the area's southern boundary. Sell-outs are common there, though the stands are often packed with out-of-towners rooting for the visiting team against the woeful Buccaneers. For the well-to-do, several luxury hotels provide the highest service imaginable, while those less financially endowed stay in smaller motels. All of the buildings adhere to strict architectural parameters, laid out by Hillis and subsequently enforced by the city council. Beige stucco is the predominant wall covering, while the roofs are done in terra cotta tile or similarly "tropical" patterns. Enough variety exists to please the eye, but the further time one spends in Beachfront, the more anonymous and interchangeable the buildings appear. Despite that, however, the soot of reality still filters in to this plasticine oasis. Bums and panhandlers are a recurring problem, clustering mainly around the pier, but also venturing elsewhere in search of liquor money. A few bitter independent businesses still hold out: seedy bars and card joints which the surrounding hotels fob off as "local color." The Blanco Street Pier remains a convenient rendezvous point for smugglers, being far enough away from the bright hotel lights to avoid generating attention, and many of the Pier's carnival attractions are crooked. But the money rolls in and the tourists keep coming, so no one complains. For better or worse, Harvey Hillis' idea has become an institution, and a few warts here and there aren't going to change that. Locations in Beachfront * Sand Harbour Railway Depot * Continental Theater * Sunset Downs * Blanco Street Pier Category:Districts of Sand Harbour Category:Locations in Sand Harbour